JPS59108914A - Position indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a compact and light position indicator having a high degree of operability, wherein recording, detection, and erasing are repeated in correspondence with the rotation of a spherical body, and signals indicating the moving distance and the moving direction are outputted. CONSTITUTION:Detecting coils 3-1...3-8 generate detected signals when magnetic poles of a magnetized spherical body 1 pass the front of each coil. When a magnetizing signal S1 (a) is applied to a magnetizing coil 2, the spherical body 1 is magnetized. When a position indicator moves and passes the position of P2, the magnetic pole N of the spherical body 1 passes the front of the detecting coil 3-1. Then a detected signal S3 (c) is generated. The moving distance is a value, which is determined by the arc of the spherical body 1 corresponding to the magnetizing coil 2 and the detecting coil 3-1. The moving direction is the direction, which views the direction of the detecting coil 3-1 at the point P2 from a P1. Immediately after the generation of the detected signal S3, a demagenetizing signal S2 (b) is applied to the magnetizing coil 2, and the magnetic poles N and S, which are generated before, are erased, and the initial coditions are imparted to the spherical body 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a position indicator that is small in size and has a high degree of freedom in operability.

(Prior Art) Hitherto, as means for indicating the position of a pointing point on a CRT display used as a computer terminal, (1) a joystick, (2) a track wheel, (2) a mouse, etc. have been used. The joystick shown in (3) mainly indicates the moving direction of the pointing point based on the inclination angle of the operating stick, so in order to move the pointing point to the desired position and stop, it requires a high level of skill in operating the operating stick. It took. The trackball (3) uses friction between the rotation detector and the ball to detect the rotation of the ball and indicates the direction of movement of the pointing point. For this reason, the surface of the sol is required to be made of a material suitable for friction and to be finished with high precision, making the trackball expensive.

Further, since it is difficult to miniaturize the rotation detector, the overall external shape of the trackball becomes large, which limits the degree of freedom in operation. The mouse (3) uses one wheel in each of the horizontal and vertical axes, resulting in a large external size and limited operational freedom, requiring skill to operate it, similar to the case with joysticks.

(Objective of the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks, and an object of the present invention is to provide a position indicator that is small and lightweight, has a high degree of freedom in operability, and does not require skill to operate.

(Structure of the Invention) The present invention includes a recording device that magnetically records marks at one point on a sphere, and a recording device that magnetically records marks at one point on a sphere, and a recording device that records marks arranged around the sphere at an equal distance from the recording device and records the marks as they pass in front of the sphere. and an erasing device that erases the mark, and outputs a signal indicating the distance and direction of movement by repeating recording, detection, and erasing according to the rotation of the sphere. It is a position indicator.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below according to an illustrated example.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment according to the present invention. 1 is a sphere made of magnetic material held rotatably in a housing 4 and partially protruding outside the housing 4; 2;
3-1.3-5 is a magnetizing coil located at a position facing the top of the sphere 1 and magnetizes or demagnetizes the sphere 1, and 3-1.3-5 is a 5-circumference coil located around the sphere 1 at a predetermined equal distance from the magnetizing coil 2. It is part of a plurality of detection coils arranged above and generating detection signals when the magnetic poles of the magnetized spheres l pass in front. As the material of the housing 4, it is desirable to use an electromagnetic shielding material in order to protect the sphere 11, the magnetizing coil 2, and the plurality of detection coils described above from disturbances.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of the sagging detection coils seen from the top surface of FIG. 1, and 3-113-2...3-8 are the above-mentioned detection coils. Note that the housing 4 is omitted in the figure. In this embodiment, there are eight detection coils, but the more detection coils are provided, the higher the accuracy of direction detection will be. Next, the operation of the position indicator with the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the magnetizing coil 2 and the detecting coil 3-1 of the sphere 11 when the position indicator is moved to the right on the surface of the CRT display or paper, for example. In addition, how to use the above-mentioned position detector, the detection coil 3-1° 3-2. ...3-8 should be moved with care so that it does not rotate.

Figures 3 (a), (b), and (c) show the state of magnetization of the sphere l when the position indicator moves to the position P 71 P2 + P3, and Figure 3 (d) shows the state of magnetization of the sphere l when the position indicator moves to the position P 71 P2 + P3. Magnetization signal Sl and demagnetization signal S applied to 2
2 and the detection coils 3-1, 3-2, . . . , 3-8.

In FIG. 3(,), when a magnetization signal S is applied to the magnetizing coil 2, the sphere 1 is magnetized, and an N pole appears at the upper part of the sphere 1 and an S pole at the lower part. Next, when the position indicator moves to the right and passes the position P2 in FIG. 3(b), the magnetic pole N of the sphere l moves to the detection coil, ? -7, a detection signal S3 is generated in the detection coil 3-1.

(If only the magnetic pole S passes, the direction of the detection signal S2 is reversed, so the magnetic poles N and S can be distinguished.) From the time when the magnetization signal S is applied until the detection signal S3 is generated, the position indicator has moved from point PI to P2, but the distance traveled is determined by the arc of sphere 1 corresponding to magnetization coil 2 and detection coil 3-1, and the direction of movement is from point P1 to point P2. This is the direction in which the detection coil 3-1 is viewed at P2. When detection signals are generated in two adjacent detection coils at the same time, the direction of movement is between the two detection coils.

By applying the demagnetizing signal S2 to the magnetizing coil 2 immediately after the detection signal S3 is generated, the previously generated magnetic pole N t S
is erased to initialize the sphere 1 and prepare for the next operation starting from point P3 in FIG. 3(c). Thereafter, the cycle of magnetization, detection, and demagnetization is repeated in the same manner according to the movement of the position indicator, and a detection signal indicating the moving distance and moving direction is output for each cycle.

Note that by making the time from the generation of the detection signal S3 to the application of the magnetization signal S, which is the start of the next cycle, sufficiently short, errors caused by movement of the position and indicator within this time can be ignored. I can do it. In addition, the magnetization signal S is set so that the magnetic field generated by the magnetization coil 2 is sufficiently strong.
If 1 is added, when magnetization is performed at a new point in time, the magnetic pole due to the previous old magnetization disappears, so the above-mentioned error is eliminated and the demagnetization signal S2 is also unnecessary. In this embodiment, a magnetizing coil 2 is used as a recording device for recording a mark at one point on a sphere and an erasing device for erasing the mark, and a detection coil 2 is used as a detecting device for detecting the mark. -1, 3-2.

...This is an example using 3-8. , Next, in response to the movement of the position indicator, the magnetization signal S7. shown in FIG. 3 is generated. A control device for generating the degaussing signal S2 and processing the detection signal S3 will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the control device. 2 is a magnetizing coil, 3 1+3-2. ... 3-8 is a detection coil, 5 is a sequencer, 6 is a magnetization control circuit, 7 is a gate buffer, 8 is an OR circuit, 9 is an AD converter, and 10 is a sensor amplifier. 11 shows the electrical configuration of the position pointing device. First, when the position pointing device is in the state shown in FIG. 3(a), the magnetization control circuit 6 receives the output signal of the sequencer 5 and sends the magnetization signal S shown in FIG. 3(d) to the magnetization coil 2.
Add 1. When the position pointing device moves and enters the state shown in FIG. 3(b), a detection signal S3 shown in FIG. 3(d) is generated in the detection coil 3-1. The sensor amplifier 10-1 amplifies and rectifies the detection signal S3 and outputs it to the eight-way converter 9-1. The A-D converter 9-1 is the sensor amplifier 10-
Convert the output of 1 to a dezotal signal. The digital signal consists of 2 bits and is expressed in three levels depending on the output level of the sensor amplifier 1O-1: "The mark passes directly below", "The mark passes through the neighboring position", and "The mark does not pass". be done.

The output of the A/D converter 9-1 is applied to the gate buffer 7-1 and the OR circuit 8. Kate buffer 7-1,
7-2, . . . , 7-8 are the magnetization signals S1.7-8 shown in FIG. 3(d). While the degaussing signal S2 is applied to the magnetizing coil 2 of the position indicating device, the side guard is closed according to the instruction from the 7-sensor 6, and the detection coils 3-1, 3-2. ...,
The noise induced in 3-8 is the sensor amplifier 10 1 +
10-2+...

10-81 A-D converter 9-1, 9-2,...
, 9-8. Kate puffer 7 1 + 7 2 +・
. . , prevents output via 7-8. Still, O
The R circuit 8 includes A-D converters 9-1, 9-2, . . .
The logical sum of the outputs of 9-8 is taken and outputted to the sequencer 5.

The sequencer 5 learns from the output that the detection signal S3 shown in FIG. 3(d) is generated, and immediately outputs the degaussing signals S2,
Next, a signal is output to the magnetization control circuit to instruct it to output the magnetization signal S. The control circuit repeats the above operations according to the movement of the position indicator.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, it is difficult to reduce the size and weight of the present invention. A sphere and recording device (erasing device) that does not require a rotation detector or wheels and is small and lightweight; it uses a detection device, so it is small and lightweight and can be easily held in one hand like a fountain pen. A position indicator with a high degree of freedom in operability can be realized.

However, when indicating the position of a pointing point on the CRT display surface using the position pointing device according to the present invention, the position pointing device itself is moved to the pointing point on the CRT display surface to directly indicate the position. This method has the advantage that it does not require any operational skill compared to a joystick, track peel, mouse, etc., which indirectly indicate the position of the indicated point by operating a control rod or console located away from the display. The present invention can be widely applied to cursor control, graphic input, etc. of a display, which is one type of computer terminal.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a layout diagram of a detection coil of the embodiment, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of a control device. . l... Sphere, 2... Magnetizing coil, 3-1.3-2
゜..., 3-8... Detection coil, 4... Housing, 5... Sequencer, 6... Magnetization control circuit, 7-
1, 7-2. ..., 7-8... date buffer, 8... OR circuit, 9-1, 9-2,..., 9-8... A-D
Converter, ノO-1, 10-2,..., 1o=s...
Sensor amplifier, 11...position indicator. Procedural amendment (Mutsu) □E. 3.B6 □ Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office 1 Indication of the case 1982 Patent Application No. 218267 2 Name of the invention Position indicator 3 Relationship with the person making the amendment Case Patent application Office (
Address: 1-7-12-4, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo (1-105) Address: 1-7-1, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo (105)
No. 2 No. 5, Subject of amendment Column 71- of "Detailed Description of the Invention" in the specification

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sphere made of a magnetic material held in a body so that a part thereof protrudes outside the body and is rotatable; a recording device for magnetically recording a mark at one point on the sphere; and a periphery of the sphere. a plurality of detecting devices arranged at equal distances from the recording device to detect when the recorded marks pass in front of the recording device; and an erasing device for erasing the marks; , a position indicator that outputs a signal indicating the moving distance and moving direction by repeating detection and erasure.